Jennifer Reed - Children's Author

When the editor says,
"No thanks!"

by Jennifer Reed

We’ve all been there. We’ve all felt the pain of rejection. Whether it was the boy or girl who wouldn’t return our affection in high school, the letter stating we weren’t good enough to get into a certain college, the phone call that told us the job was given to someone else because their qualifications were, well, better. And yet, as much of a part of daily life as rejection is, we still hover in the corner, cry and think ourselves unworthy. In fact, we a humans, dread rejection and will go to any lengths to avoid it. We protect ourselves by not asking the cheerleader or football player out on a date. We don’t apply to the best college or for the high-paying job, telling ourselves, “Well, I won’t get it anyway, why bother trying?”

So, you decide to take the lesser positions in life. Until you decided to become a writer. Little did you know that rejection will not only become a part of your writing life, you’ll learn to thrive on it, look forward to it in great anticipation. Won’t you? Okay, before you think I’ve totally lost it, let me explain why rejection is a great thing and without it, we would never succeed at anything.

Everyone gets rejected at some point in their life. Yes, even the greatest writers weren’t always great. You’ve heard the stories about how so and so got 100 rejection letters before signing the big deal. It happens, to everyone– even those agents and editors you depend so heavily on, get rejected too. What do you think the writer who received those 100 rejections, did? Did he shrivel up in the corner and cry. Most likely not. He re-worked his story over and over until it was as perfect as he could get it. Maybe some of those rejections had positive notes with a little advice. Maybe he took this advice and reworked his story some more, until he submitted it for the 101st time, in which case it was finally accepted.

Rejections are not personal, but if you seem to be getting a lot of them, there is probably something missing to your story. There are many factors that take place when it comes to deciding whether a story, a book an article will be accepted. It helps to do your homework and spend as much time researching the publishers as you do in writing.

Rejections can get you really angry too. This, in my opinion is a very good thing. If you’re not mad, then chances are you don’t believe in your work. If you don’t believe in your work, then chances are, it won’t get published. With every rejection I become more determined to resubmit the piece and get it published. I keep track of the rejections and take note of what they say. Why didn’t my story fit? What was lacking? What needs work? Without rejections, we wouldn’t have the opportunity to make our stories better.

Rejections makes the acceptance letter sweeter. You know how much hard work, long hours and sacrifice you put in and made to write the story and make it as good as possible. You’ve checked off the list of publishers as each rejection came in.

Now you have an acceptance. Now you can enjoy the reward. It has meaning because you have been through so much. While those rejections were building your character, they were also preparing you for the acceptance letter. Relish in it, for it is sweet, but be warned, you’ll probably continue to get more rejections. And this is a good thing! Having faith in your work will soften the blow rejections can give, but know you are on the right road to receiving the acceptance of a lifetime!